I disagree that ARIA is designed to patch up bad HTML, ARIA is designed to provide Accessibility API mappings for widgets created using HTML, javascript and CSS markup. There are no HTML equivalent elements that can be used to represent the widgets people are creating for the web. Even the new user interface controls in HTML 5 will not cover all of the types of widgets that developers are dreaming up and putting on the web. There are already hundreds of web toolkits being developed to create custom controls and widgets for the web and ARIA is the only technology available to make them more accessible.
Jon
---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:01:29 -0700
>From: "T.V Raman" <raman@google.com>
>Subject: Re: ARIA roles added to the a element should be conforming in HTML5.
>To: jonas@sicking.cc
>Cc: faulkner.steve@gmail.com, mjs@apple.com, public-html@w3.org, wai-xtech@w3.org
>
>
>Sad but true, I'd answer yes to your question. ARIA was designed
>to patch up bad HTML usage --- that is where it coems from, and
>that is its role (no pun intended)
>
>Jonas Sicking writes:
> > On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 1:45 AM, Steven Faulkner
> > <faulkner.steve@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > hi maciej,
> > >>I think <button> is pretty consistently fully stylable cross-browser
> > >> (unlike, say, <input type="button">).
> > > This is really incidental to the issue being discussed, most, if not all
> > > html elements can be scripted and styled in a way that overides their native
> > > semantic
> > > If this is allowed, then it follows that the addition of ARIA roles
> > > should.$(.� not result in a conformance error, as the addition of ARIA.$(.� is
> > > incidental to the developers.$(.� intention to overide the native semantics.
> >
> > Couldn't the same argument be made for any other element as well? Does
> > this mean that we should allow ARIA roles on all elements?
> >
> > I guess there still are a few exceptions, like <script>, <style>, and <form>.
> >
> > But for example <h1> can be overridden to look and act like a button
> > or a link, does this mean that we should allow arbitrary ARIA on <h1>?
> >
> > / Jonas
>
Jon Gunderson, Ph.D.
Coordinator Information Technology Accessibility
Disability Resources and Educational Services
Rehabilitation Education Center
Room 86
1207 S. Oak Street
Champaign, Illinois 61820
Voice: (217) 244-5870
WWW: http://www.cita.illinois.edu/
WWW: https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/jongund/www/
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